Commonwealth Notes

New Zealand Tablet, Volume L, Issue 1, 4 January 1923, Page 35

Commonwealth Notes

!3iSSSTSSßs^ u^^®^l«Tfi, W cjr»Ti<rn w*T,i?e > -■ . . v v . % IJU U in n The Catholic Federation has lost one of its noted leaders,, in the person of Mr. P. S. Cleary, K.S.S., who through pressure of duties resigned the position of president at last night’s meeting (says the Freeman’s Journal for December 7). No one in the movement has done more for the progress of the Federation than its talented president, who with voice and pen has not only cemented its ranks but brought vitality into its operations, so much so that Mr. . Cleary was recognised and. appreciated as a splendid lay champion of the Church and its activities. It is over nine years since Mr. Cleary, as first president of the Federation, took up office, and he has since been re-elected every year without opposition. The funeral of the late Father Bernard Quinn, S.M. took place at the Marist Fathers’ private burial ground, Villa Maria, on Monday morning, December 11. Very Rev. Father J. Chevreuil, S.M. (Provincial of the Marist ; Fathers) celebrated the Requiem Mass, and also officiated at the graveside. The deacon of the Mass was Rev. Father S.M., and the subdeacon, Rev. Father Huault, S.M. There were also present Rev. Fathers Moussey, S.M., Rigard, S.M., Carsenac, S.M.,- Bazin, S.M., Thierry, S.M.', Courtais, S.M., E. Coll, J. C. Bartley, 0.F.M., and Boran. After an illness extending over some considerable time, there passed peacefully away recently, in the Lewisham Hospital, Sydney, Rev. Father Andrew Mulvihill, well-known in. the South Coast districts and the suburbs of Sydney. Father Mulvihill, who was a native of Co. • Longford, Ireland, was originally of the mission in New Zealand, principally in Wellington. Coming over to New South Wales, he was stationed as curate at Moruya, Kogarah, Newtown, Rockdale, and Arncliffe. Failing health necessitated admittance into the Lewisham Hospital, where ho was given all the attention that was possible. A Requiem Mass for the repose of the soul of the deceased was celebrated in the College Chapel, by the Vicar-General, the Right Rev. Monsignor J. P. Moynagh, who also officiated at the graveside, and at which there were present Very Rev. Father T. Phelan, P.P., Rev. Father J. J. O’Driscoll, P.P., Rev. Father J. Hyland, Dr. McElligott, and Messrs. Ward, who were contemporaries of the deceased ' priest in the old land. VICTORIA. Mr. Ness,. M.L.A., and the Daily Telegraph would, if they had ordinary decency (says the Freeman’s Journal), have sent an apology to the Sisters of the Good Shepherd after the official report into the mental condition of the girl, Edie Fox, had been laid on the table of the House. v It will bo remembered that the original charges brought against the Nuns in this case were serious and sweeping. . Mr. Nees declared that Edie Fox was not only a normal, but even a bright girl,, who, after a number of years in Catholic institutions, was uneducated and . illiterate, because the Nuns had deliberately made a “white slave” of her. She had not been taught either at Waitara or the Home of the Good Shepherd, according to Mr. Ness, and as a result of ill-treatment she had run away from the last-mentioned institution. It was a sensational tale that the sectarian member for Marrickville related, and the mind went back to that. story of Dickens, in which the „ poor little ‘-Marchioness” is starved and beaten and worked nearly to death by the amiable Sally Brass. The Telegraph printed the story with' gusto and did not forget the “white slave” business in the heading. It went even further, for in- itsanti-Catholic zeal it sent a reporter along to Mr. Ness, who took him over his Protestant Home and introduced him to Edie Fox. Needless to say the Telegraph scribe described how happy Edie was in her new surroundings, and gave unsolicited testimony to the effect that she was a very bright girl, mentally. He also added little touches to the original yarn about Edie’s escape from the Good Shepherd institution, and printed what a gardener and a policeman said to her. Of course, such an alleged scandal had to be investigated. Catholics could not allow the matter to rest s where it was. They demanded lin enquiry, and Mr. Ness was forced to ask for one. Mr. Bruntnell, the Minister for Education, appointed the i Government’s own experts, Mr. William S.

Reay and Drs. Harvey Sutton and JLorna M. Hodgkinson, to examine Edie Fox and report on her, condition. That report was. laid on the table of the House. Needless to} i say, the Nuns were cleared of the charge laid against them. Evidently, neither Mr. Ness nor the Daily Telegraph dared to press the", “ill-treatment” part of the original slander. They relied upon the , mental, test to pull : them through. Well, the commission of enquiry has placed on record its belief that it was Edie Fox’s dwarfed mentality arid hot any neglect .on the part of the Sisters that is responsible £ for her deficient education. Very Rev. Father W. Power, > S.J., who is visiting Australia as a delegate from the Father-General of the Jesuit , Order (Very Rev. Vlodomir Ledochowski), arrived in Melbourne on Saturday, November 25, in company with Very Rev, Father W. J. Lockington, S.JV, (Superior of the Order in Australasia). Father Power, in an interview with a representative of the Tribune, said that his - work in Australia will be concerned mainly with the colleges conducted by the Jesuit Fathers. The : headquarters of the Order are in Rome, and there are about thirty pro-■ vinces, all over the world, where the priests are engaged chiefly 'in the various works of the ministry: giving missions, conducting colleges and Universities, and writing treatises on scientific topics. In Rome two of the most famous colleges—the Biblical Institute and the Gregorian University—are conducted by the Jesuits; and in the same city the Jsuits have two great monumental churches,. the Jesu Church and St. Ignatius’ Church. He speaks in high terms of the people of Australia, and is delighted with the climate. Non-Catholics whom ho met on the mail steamer and those he, has seen since his arrival impressed him as people of broad and generous minds. He was in Belgium when the Father-General directed him to make the visitation of the Homes of the Order. In that work he left on September 22 last for Australia, where he will spend from six to eight months. He was much impressed with the fine spirit of the men of St. Michael’s, Clare, S.A., when they made a General Communion. QUEENSLAND. His Grace Archbishop Mannix, of Melbourne, in an address at the Holy Name Convent, at Toowoomba, recently, after hearing the children sing, said: —“I think you did very well. When you had only* two items you gave the first to Australia and the second to Ireland. That is what I have always been insisting upon since I became an Australian citizen, Australians should put their own country first, and when they talk or sing of Australia their whole heart should go with their words and with their song. All that is best in Australia . came from , Ireland, and Australia will always remain Ireland’s debtor. Through centuries of oppression Ireland has never - forgotten that her destiny lies in the hands of God.” , “Among those who ought to be proud of this day,” said Dr. Mannix, speaking at the opening of St. Vincent’s Hospital, Toowoomba, “are the Sisters of Charity.” ; He knew the Sisters of Charity in Ireland, and knew', too, the great work they were doing there. The Sisters of Charity had come from Ireland to Australia, , and the seed of fire did not go out on the journey coming over. The Sisters were here just what they were in Ireland, and the people of Toowoomba would every day come better to realise how much they had been blessed ;by God, when .He sent the Sisters of Charity to conduct this great hospital -St. Vincent’s. They had them in Melbourne, and -they were doing magnificent work there. They were all over . Australia teaching in schools, looking after orphanages but the great characteristic of their work was conducting hospitals, one of which the people of Toowoomba were the happy possessors of here. This hospital; like : all other hospitals of the Sisters of Charity, -was going to receive the sick and afflicted, quite regardless of class arid quite regardless of creed. (Cheers.) Nobody would be asked when he came in here what altar it was at which he worshipped, or whether there had been any altar at all. . If he be sick and suffering that would be his sufficient passport to St. Vincent’s Hospital, Toowoomba. (Cheers.)